1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless interconnection method for establishing a bi-directional communication between two audio and/or video devices situated in different rooms of a building, and a wireless interconnection assembly for implementing this method.
A user frequently has several audio and/or video devices installed in different rooms in his dwelling, for example, a main audio and/or video device installed in the living room and a secondary audio and/or video device installed in another room, for example, in the bedroom. The main audio and/or video device can have a first receiver, such as, for example, a television receiver, and at least one source of audio and/or video electrical signals, such as, for example, a cable television channel decoder, a satellite television decoder, a pay TV decoder, a videotape recorder, a digital video disk (DVD) player, a hi-fi unit, an audio cassette player, a compact disk player, etc. The secondary audio and/or video device may include a second receiver, such as, for example, a television receiver. The user also frequently has available at least one remote control for controlling the appliance or appliances of the main audio and/or video device and of the secondary audio and/or video device at a distance, for example, a remote control specific to each appliance or a multifunction or universal remote control, that is, one able to control several appliances.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known that the control signals emitted by some remote controls, such as, for example, infrared remote controls, cannot pass through the walls or partitions separating the rooms in a building or dwelling. This is why wireless interconnection assemblies have already been proposed, able to establish a bi-directional communication between two audio and/or video devices situated in different rooms, and enabling a user situated in the room where the secondary audio and/or video device is installed to control the audio and/or video signal source or sources installed in the room where the main audio and/or video device is situated, by means of a remote control generating remote-control signals unable to pass through the walls or partitions of the building. Thus, the user can listen to and/or display, on the receiver of the secondary audio and/or video device, an audio and/or video program transmitted by the audio and/or video signal source of the main audio and/or video device. To this end, the known wireless interconnection assemblies are composed essentially of two transmission relays which are disposed, respectively, at the main audio and/or video device and at the secondary audio and/or video device. The two transmission relays are hybrid relays, that is, each relay is capable of receiving or sending a remote-control signal, and the two relays communicate with each other by radio links. One of the radio links, for example, at 2.46 GHz, is usually dedicated to the transmission of audio and/or video signals from the relay situated at the main audio and/or video device to the relay situated at the secondary audio and/or video device. Another radio link, for example, at 433 or 868 MHz, is usually dedicated to the transmission of remote-control information from the relay situated at the secondary audio and/or video device to the relay situated at the main audio and/or video device.
The problem is that when two identical wireless interconnection assemblies are close to each other, these interconnection assemblies can interfere with each other. This may, for example, be the case when two users living in adjacent houses or apartments have such interconnection assemblies. With regard to the transmission of the audio and/or video signals, this problem is resolved by the fact that the two relays of the interconnection assembly are usually designed so as to offer to the user several channels for the radio link by means of which the audio and/or video signals pass. If the transmission is poor on the channel, the user can then choose another channel. This solution is not applicable to the radio link by means of which the remote-control information passes, since there is usually only one channel available.